A Police and Crime Commissioner has been criticised over the appointment of his neighbour, a former BBC executive, as his deputy.

David Lloyd, the policing boss in Hertfordshire, was accused of “cronyism” over his choice of David Gibson after it emerged that Mr Gibson has no prior experience of policing or the criminal justice system.

Members of the local police and crime panel, which scrutinises decisions of the PCC, have questioned the “cosiness” of their relationship. Mr Lloyd and Mr Gibson, who will earn £50,000 a year, live less than a mile apart in the village of Flamstead.